Myra was obviously playing for both teams and that was a line none of them ever dared to cross. He found it mildly ironic that shed met her end at the hands of a demon or so the story had been told. Apparently, crossing that line had dire consequences.
Zachary refused to feel the sadness that tried to creep across his chest at her death the last thing PIT needed was a traitor walking among them.
Pulling himself from the past, Zachary watched Tiara move across the large room below, listening to the India bells around her ankle jingle quietly and wondering how much like her mother she was. She could have been her mothers doppelganger just a younger version. She resembled a child in a womans body, completely innocent of the violence around her yet more than aware of it at the same time.
She possessed a golden tan, flawless skin, and the wide eyes of an innocent child. That innocence was somehow tainted by full pouty lips that made him want to feel them against his own. As he gazed at her, he realized he was wrong her mothers beauty didnt hold a candle to Tiaras. Just watching her made him feel like a stalker but instead of backing off he looked closer.
Her way of dressing made her look like shed been taken straight from the caravan of a gypsy clan that had been lost in time. It was the same way Myra used to dress. He assumed it was tradition within that line of necromancers.
Tonight, her shirt was little more than a black square scarf folded into a triangle and tied around her chest, leaving her sides and back bare to show her temptingly flawless skin. Her skirt was dangerously low on her hips but covered everything else clear down to her ankles.
Doors started opening all around and people appeared from all corners of the castle, crossing the main room under him and he frowned at the distraction. Zacharys cell phone went off and he took it out to read Storms text message.
Meeting in Rens office, bring Jason.
How the hell am I supposed to do that, use smelling salts? Zachary muttered putting his phone away. Looking back toward the medical room, he blinked in surprise when the door opened and Jason poked his head out in the hall.
He cocked an eyebrow wondering if Storm spent every day popping in and out of existence to make things happen on the right time line. Just thinking about how long a day could stretch for the time traveler gave him a headache. But then again, if something was done wrong, couldnt Storm always go back and fix it if he wanted?
Glad to see youre awake, Zachary said with a smirk. I trust you slept nightmare free?
Jason came the rest of the way out of the room and slowly approached Zachary. Yeah, I feel a lot better now that the death mark is gone. He looked down at the activity below them and asked, Whats going on?
Zachary threw his arm around Jasons shoulders and steered him toward the stairs. Wanna see something really cool?
Jason shrugged, Sure, why not?
Good, Zachary smirked, youre presence has been requested by our boss your first official PIT meeting.
Jason cocked an eyebrow. But Im not a member of PIT.
Zachary smiled mischievously, Its either join us, or suddenly come down with a huge case of amnesia.
Jason pulled away from Zachary with a worried frown. Holding his hands up in surrender, he nodded, Lead the way.
When Zachary laughed and took off down the stairs, Jason had no choice but to follow though he did so at a safe distance.
*****
Ive got something for you. Storm said and took out a small USB drive from his shirt pocket.
Ren took it from him and plugged it into the computer. He smirked when he saw the same map hed created only this one was more updated. Where the original map had only a few blips on it focusing on the centralized power recorded, this map resembled a childs Lite-Brite on speed. Different colored lights now lit up every inch of the city and were extending outward toward the slums, the preserve, and even the beaches they were everywhere now.
Where did you get this? Ren asked in awe, slowly rising from his chair in the process to get a better look at the huge screen on the wall.
Storm looked down at his nails and examined them with great interest, You.
Before Ren could say anything, the doors of his office suddenly opened and some of the PIT members who had filtered back to the castle walked in. Ren felt the accumulated power in the room and fought to keep his own power under control. Though his face was outwardly expressing boredom, inside he was almost panicking.
Reaching out for the blocking power hed felt earlier, Ren latched onto it and felt his world stabilize again. He nodded at Zachary as the other man entered and joined him and Storm at the desk.
Zachary let his gaze slowly filter across the people, quickly skipping the area Tiara was standing in just to prove to himself he could do it. It was harder than he thought. When his gaze swung back to her, he noted her flinch and she quickly looked from him toward Storm. Zachary frowned and crossed his arms over his chest wondering why shed reacted to him like that.
Jason looked around for Angelica and was disappointed when he didnt see her among the exotic looking group. He quickly drew back against the wall swearing hed just seen a guy teleport into the room. One second the spot beside him had been empty and the next it wasnt.
Guy immediately sought out Tiara with his gaze and tried to think of the best way to approach her with his plan. Hed just spent the last couple of hours tearing his and Carleys room apart trying to find a spell for what he had in mind.
During his grief-fed rage, he had remembered Carley stumbling across it in one of her acquisitions as shed called the stolen scrolls. The two had shared a bit of amusement at the time, believing they would never have a need to bring the dead back to life.
The spell was an old one that had been transcribed from an ancient text a way to bring the dead back. In this case however, it would only tie the spirit to the human realm while it remained attached to the spirit realm. In short, Carley would become a ghost.
Guy knew there was another part of the magic that would allow Carley to return to her body but you had to have the power of necromancy for that to work. Tiara was the only one who could help him bring Carley back it would take Tiaras power to bond his sisters soul back to her body.
Tiara felt eyes on her and looked up wondering if it was Zachary. Instead, she found Guy staring longingly at her. She calmly met his gaze knowing what was going through his mind. Shed heard about his sisters death and hoped that he would change his mind. Her mother had often been approached by the loved ones of those who had been killed in the line of duty. Shed have to avoid him for a while at least until he calmed down.
Glad all of you could make it, Storm said once the doors were closed. Ive got good news and bad news. He nodded toward the huge computerized map on the wall, Thats the bad news. There were several murmurs within the crowd.
Whats the good news? Trevor frowned from the doorway as he entered the room.
The good news is that the most powerful demons are smart. They just made it back into this world and theyre not stupid so theyre not going to out themselves right away by going on killing sprees.
In the past, the master demons liked to control humans not kill them. They will set up shop first and try to claim a territory. My hope is that some of them will even kill each other in order to stake their claim on an area and it will narrow down the playing field.